Saturday, May 28, 2011

What Johnny Rotten sees when he looks in the mirror

What I see in the mirror: John Lydon

'Dental hygiene wasn't something that featured in the Lydon household. The only time I saw a toothbrush was when my dad was cleaning his boots'

'My favourite thing is cotton buds – like safety pins, they have a ­thousand uses. I love to poke them up my snozzle.' Photograph: Rex Features

When I look in the mirror, I notice spots, blackheads and zits. I have a favourite occupation: I love to squeeze 'em. The mirror of choice is magnification to the nth degree. The skin looks like a lunar landscape.
The real colour of my hair is mouse. I always want to be ginger, which I was when I was born, or blond, because I live in LA, and I want to look like I go surfing without any physical effort.
My nickname – Rotten – came from my teeth, because they had a thin line of green mould. Dental hygiene wasn't something that featured in the Lydon household. The only time I saw a toothbrush was when my dad was cleaning his boots.
In later years I had all kinds of illnesses and I never knew I was ill because my teeth were poisoning my whole system. Just before the Pistols 96 tour, I had to have a major operation in my jaw because I had bone rot. I do floss now, but I have found something better – I love plastic shopping bags, particularly the handle, because I can really get that bit in between the teeth.
My favourite thing is cotton buds – like safety pins, they have a thousand uses. I love to poke them up my snozzle – to get the bits you can't quite blow out.
I am 54 and I have no problems with age, none at all. I view myself as being only half a century young, with some short change.
• Mr Rotten's Scrapbook, a limited edition photographic book, is available from concertlive.co.uk/mrrottensscrapbook/, priced £379.
Source